On April 13, the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET) released “Profiles in Innovation: How the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program is Improving Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools.” The profiles of 10 schools illustrate how instrumental EETT funds have been in helping to create successful educational technology programs.

“For kids in America today, technology isn’t something separate from their day-to-day lives—it is their day-to-day lives,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who delivered remarks at the release of the NCTET report. “They wake up, they reach for their smart phone, and they start tweeting. They text their friends while they walk to school. They update their Facebook status on the bus.”

Murray said educational technology is essential to improving students’ learning experiences in several ways:

Technology lets educators and students customize and personalize learning.

Ed tech gives teachers, principals, and policy makers important data and information they need to know what’s working and what must be improved.

Ed tech has a powerful way of engaging students in the classroom.

“Twenty-first century jobs are going to require workers with 21st-century skills—and we need to make sure our students not only understand how technology connects to their future careers, but that they are also leaving our schools and entering the workforce better at making that connection than students anywhere else in the world,” Murray said. “So that’s the first reason well-integrated technology education is so critical in our schools.”